At first you can’t tell what the paintings are. Then you notice the gruesome red spot on one, the shape of a head on the second, the bodily form lying there on the third; three paintings playing with your perception of a man who has been shot in the head.

The artist is Walker Roman, 21, who is one of four featured artists at Shephard Fine ArtSpace’s show that opened last Saturday.

Strawberry Festival Season Upon Us

Strawberry season is upon us. Sure, just biting into a strawberry this time of year is guaranteed to make you gasp with pleasure and marvel that Mother Nature could be so generous.

But we are people, darn it, and although so often we tend to desecrate Mother Nature, sometimes we get it right and bump big momma up a notch. That’s what the good people at the West Tisbury Congregational Church have been doing for the past 23 years at their annual Strawberry Festival.

Time to get out of the house and into someone else’s house. Houses, actually.

It’s the first Vineyard Haven house tour hosted by the Martha’s Vineyard Museum taking place Saturday, June 25 from 1 to 4 p.m.

Tiny Dancers

Having a hard time getting your four-year-old to sleep, what with the summer hours of daylight stretching into the wee hours? Starting Wednesday, June 29 help is on the way.

Independent Together

Have a slice of independence! No, it’s not yet the Fourth of July. This independence celebration is Tuesday, June 28, when Flatbread Pizza benefits the Vineyard Independence Partnership, also known as VIP.

Senior Music Camp

Camps, camps and more camps for kids. All well and good, but what about the rest of us? Particularly those no longer spry enough to pogo stick but not willing to go gently into that good night, either. Hmm, is that a mandolin I hear in the distance.

Each Wednesday in July and running through August, the Tisbury Senior Center is hosting a music camp for seniors. It’s a jam session, a sharing of tunes, and a class for beginners all rolled into one and hosted by instructor and conductor Sally Flood.

The Martial Art of Mixing It Up

This weekend at the Yard there’s a merging of the professional and the personal. The opening weekend at the dance colony in Chilmark features the H.T. Chen dancers, the Yard’s company in residence this summer, and the boys and girls next door. Say what?

The concept is this: Earlier the professional dancers visited Island schools to find local talent to take part in the show. Some young dancers will be hitting the boards for the first time.

Denzel Washington was a relative unknown when he scored the role of Trip, an escaped slave who joined one of the first black units fighting for the Union in the Civil War in the 1989 film Glory. The New York Times called it a “beautifully acted, pageantlike movie” that tells the story of the Massachusetts 54th. That legendary African American volunteer infantry was led by a young white Bostonian, Robert Gould Shaw, who is played by Matthew Broderick.

Plein Air, Plus Critique

On Thursday, June 30 at 6 p.m., oil painter Meg Mercier will give a brief gallery talk about her plein air paintings on view at the Old Sculpin Gallery in Edgartown.

The evening will also include a constructive critique by folk artist Brian Kirkpatrick for anyone who wishes to bring in a work in progress. Contact the gallery for more details at 508-627-4881, mvaa@verizon.netor or visit oldsculpingallery.org.

Did the Green Lantern, last week’s supposed Hollywood blockbuster, fail to light up your life? Don’t despair, there are others here on the Island who also hunger for something more fulfilling on screen. Indeed, the Vineyard in summer is a movie lover’s paradise with numerous festivals bringing narratives and documentaries from around the world just a stone’s throw from your front porch.